Capital Projects & CAPEX · Dubai 2027
CAPEX Summit Dubai 2027
Capital expenditure builds the assets an economy runs on. Project Economy Forum Dubai brings the owners of major capital programmes together with the executives who approve the investment and the leaders who deliver it.
Project Economy Forum Dubai · 27–28 January 2027 · Dubai, UAE
From capital allocation to a working asset.
Capital expenditure (CAPEX) is investment in long-lived assets: plants, networks, buildings, infrastructure and the systems that run them. Capital projects are how that investment becomes something real, and major projects are the largest and most complex of them.
A capital decision is made once and lived with for decades. The quality of the decision, the realism of the estimate, the strength of the contracts and the discipline of delivery all show up in the finished asset, and in the return it earns.
Project Economy Forum is not a construction or engineering event. It treats capital projects as part of a wider project economy, where the same boards also fund technology, R&D and transformation, and where every investment competes for the same capital.
What capital project leaders are responsible for.
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01
Capital allocation
Deciding which assets to build, when and at what scale, within the capital the organisation can commit.
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02
Front-end definition
Shaping scope, estimates and schedules before commitment, when changes are cheapest.
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03
Contracting strategy
Choosing how work is packaged and contracted, and how risk is shared with contractors and partners.
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04
Delivery
Managing cost, schedule, quality and safety across engineering, procurement and construction.
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05
Assurance
Independent review at key gates, so that problems surface while they can still be fixed.
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06
Handover and value
Bringing the asset into operation and confirming it delivers the capacity and return it was approved for.
The questions on every capital programme.
- 01
Is the estimate realistic?
Optimism at approval is a familiar source of later overruns. Leaders want estimates that survive challenge.
- 02
Are we still building the right asset?
Demand, technology and policy can change during a long build. Some decisions need revisiting before the asset is finished.
- 03
How should risk be shared with contractors?
Contract models shape behaviour. Allocating a risk to the party least able to manage it can cost more than the risk itself.
- 04
How early can we see trouble?
Warnings about cost and schedule often exist long before they reach the board. The challenge is making them visible.
- 05
Who governs a programme of many projects?
Portfolios of capital projects need decisions on sequencing, shared resources and supply chains, not only project-by-project control.
- 06
Did the investment pay back?
The business case is a promise. Fewer organisations check it against the asset in operation.
Capital projects across the life of a project.
Every Forum follows a project from first decision to final proof. A capital project passes through each stage. Decide, Fund, Deliver, Prove
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01Decide
Choosing the asset
Options, scale and timing, set against the whole portfolio.
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02Fund
Committing the capital
Business cases, investment committees and the final investment decision.
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03Deliver
Building it
Cost, schedule, contracts, supply chain and risk.
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04Prove
Earning the return
Handover, performance in operation and the value delivered.
Capital projects at Project Economy Forum Dubai.
27–28 January 2027 · Dubai, UAE. Day One is the Executive Dialogue, a private working session for CEOs, COOs, CFOs and strategy leaders. Day Two is the Forum: one stage following a project from first decision to final proof.
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Fund
Who decides, and on what evidence?
Holding the business case to account, and governance that speeds delivery up.
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Deliver
Why big projects miss, and what the best do differently
Seeing trouble early, and delivering with contractors and partners.
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Lunch
The Leaders’ Tables
A hosted table for Capital Projects, one of eight.
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Prove
Did we get what we paid for?
Measuring value delivered, and what the board must be able to prove.
Heads of capital projects and major programmes take part alongside the CEOs, COOs, CFOs and investment committees who approve them, from energy, infrastructure, real estate and the other sectors that build at scale.
Head of function and above. Every place reviewed. Indicative programme.
Questions.
What is a CAPEX summit?
A meeting of the people who approve and deliver capital investment: asset owners, investment committees, finance leaders and heads of capital projects. Project Economy Forum Dubai covers CAPEX within a broader agenda that runs from the first investment decision to the value delivered.
What is a capital projects conference?
An event about planning and delivering major physical assets such as plants, infrastructure and buildings. At Project Economy Forum, capital projects sit alongside technology, R&D and transformation, because the same executives fund all four.
What is the difference between CAPEX and OPEX?
Capital expenditure buys or builds long-lived assets and is recorded on the balance sheet. Operating expenditure covers the day-to-day cost of running the business.
What counts as a major project?
There is no single threshold. The term usually describes projects whose size, complexity or strategic importance means they are governed at board or government level.
Who attends from capital projects?
Heads of capital projects and major programmes, with the CEOs, COOs, CFOs and investment committees who approve them. Places are for heads of function and above, and every request is reviewed.